The Dundas branch will be closing at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 and reopening at 18 Ogilvie Street approximately 7 to 10 days later. Holds with a pickup of Dundas have been paused and will resume upon reopening.

The Second World War

A Complete History

It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end on V-J Day-August 14, 1945 -it had involved every major power and become global in its reach. In the final accounting, it would turn out to be, in both human terms and material resources, the costliest war in history, taking the lives of thirty million people. In one brilliant volume, eminent historian Martin Gilbert offers the complete history of the Second World War. With unparalleled scholarship and breadth of vision, Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill as well as one of the leading experts on the Holocaust, weaves together political, military, diplomatic, and civilian elements to provide a global perspective on the war, in a work that is both a treasure trove of information and a gripping, dramatic narrative.

"In his transmission of the horror of the war, Martin Gilbert has achieved something no other historian but he could. There is indeed a relentless force about chronology when it is used as a tool by an historian of the stature of Martin Gilbert." - The Sunday Telegraph

"Gilbert's flowing narrative is spiced with anecdotal details culled from diaries, memoirs, and official documents. He is especially skillful at interweaving summaries of military strategy with vignettes of civilian suffering." - Newsweek

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A glorified chronology day by day, with vignettes of human suffering. Like reading a newspaper account told from Allied point of view. Not much in the way of operations or political analysis; for example the causes of the war.